Nuts About Southwest

Imagine you are a U. S. soldier deployed and far away from home with the holiday season just days away!  How would it feel to receive a message of love and support from home at this special time of year?  

During November, Southwest’s Military Heroes Month, Southwest Customers and Employees wrote more than 6,000 patriotic and inspirational messages on our “We LUV Our Troops” cards.  These individualized and unique messages included children’s drawings, veterans’ recollections, quick lipstick kisses, holiday remembrances, and simple messages of support and appreciation.  The A Million Thanks organization will send these cards to military bases around the globe just in time for Christmas.

Southwest provided “We LUV Our Troops” cards in the gate areas of the 73 airports we serve for Customers and Employees to sign, and we joined with A Million Thanks (a non-profit organization) to deliver the messages at no cost to the troops.  The A Million Thanks Campaign began in 2009 with a lofty goal of one million messages of appreciation to be delivered to our troops; that original goal was met within six months.  To date the campaign has sent 5.2 million messages from a grateful nation, and that number doesn’t include the more than 6,000 being sent from Southwest.  These messages are a simple “Thank you”’ and a “We are thinking of you”’ from the millions of Americans whose freedoms these soldiers are ensuring and protecting.   We hope this touch of home conveys just how grateful we are, especially during this time of year.

Below are a few messages from soldiers who have received postcards from A Million Thanks:

"You have definitely hit it on the head; support from home makes a big difference to us and is an enormous morale booster."

"Thank you for your kindness and support. I really appreciate all of the words and prayers that I receive.”

"Thank you very much for your continued support of the Soldiers and Airmen in Qalat, Afghanistan. We truly appreciate all that you do for us, to include the pictures, drawings, and letters of support."

"Your support and patriotism has helped strengthen the resolve of our Marines. It's people like you that keep the Marines motivated and proud to serve our country."

Because we get it, and we understand how important it is to be together, especially over the holidays, we offer our thanks to our Customers and Employees for providing a little bit of home for those that are so far away.   From our grateful hearts to your warm hearts, we wish you a Merry Christmas and to all—including our U.S. Troops—a good night.

To read more about how these cards touch our troops, visit http://www.amillionthanks.org/.